When rain falls on an agricultural field it is normally considered a desirable event. However, there are several problems related to rainfall including the fact that water runs downhill so that the point where the rain falls will not retain all of the direct rainfall. This run-off water carries soil particles with it causing soil erosion (SiH), and other non-point source pollution in the form of agricultural chemicals (herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers) which can be carried with the run-off. In light of these problems soil conservation has become an important issue related to crop yield and pollution.
The purpose of the LANDSAFE process is to hold moisture in the place where it falls and thereby to prevent runoff and water erosion. Thus, through effective moisture retention the twin goals of soil protection and storing additional moisture for crop production are achieved simultaneously. The importance of retaining rainwater on the soil and avoiding runoff and erosion has been recognized for generations by soil experts, but they lacked the means of achieving this goal.
SOILS AND MEN, Yearbook of Agriculture 1938, a recognized classic on soils, speaks of runoff and water erosion in these terms (pp. 682-83):
"Water erosion is not so important a factor in dry-land sections as in more humid sections, although damage sometimes occurs. The greatest evil is the loss of water that may be vitally needed for crop production. For this reason the prevention of run-off is advocated to increase crop yields rather than to prevent soil loss, although it accomplishes both ends. The entire trend of cultivation has been to hold water where it falls until it penetrates the soil, rather than to lead it from the field in easy stages to prevent washing." (Italics supplied to original text).
A generation later the ultimate goal of holding precipitation in the place where it falls, was the same but still unattainable by the methodology of the age, as stated in SOIL, the 1957 Yearbook of Agriculture (p.290):
"We cannot avoid all risks of erosion when we lay a soil bare by cultivating it. Neither can we hold all the rain where it falls in humid and subhumid areas. But we need to know the risks and control them the best we can."
Previous soil conservation programs did a good job in evaluating the risks and achieving a fair measure of control with the technology available at the time. Today the technology exists to process the land in such a way as to attain the ultimate goal of holding the ambient precipitation in the place where it falls, certainly in the arid, semiarid, and subhumid areas and even extending into large portions of the humid regions. This invention relates to a way to prevent runoff and erosion even at the time of year when the soil lies bare between successive crops.
Research indicates that most erosion occurs at vulnerable periods, such as when an intense rainstorm occurs at a time when the soil is unprotected by vegetation, especially during preparation for another crop. A need therefore exists for a system, and methods which will resolve the above identified problems, especially during vulnerable periods.